Category Archives: Rumors

Not much activity so far on the Yankee front on Day 1 of the Winter Meetings. I don’t think Cash has even arrived in San Diego yet. The big story of the day so far is this report from Andrew Marchand about the Yankees being willing to go to a 4-year deal for Chase Headley and/or David Robertson. This goes against previous reports that hinted at New York not being willing to go more than 3 for Headley, and confirms that the team is still very much interested in and involved in talks with D-Rob even after inking Andrew Miller to a 4-year deal on Friday.

Of course, the Yankees’ reported interest comes with the always tricky “at the right price” contingency. Headley has supposedly received a 4-year/$65 million offer from an unnamed team, a price tag that I can’t see the Yankees being interested in paying. With that deal not signed, however, and more coming out today about how much Headley liked playing in New York, I wonder how real that offer is. …

The stove has been ice cold in Yankeeland for the last few weeks, but this report by Buster Olney may have just turned the gas back on. Andrew Miller was one of the best relief pitchers in baseball this past season, better than D-Rob in some respects, and he’s been drawing a lot more attention on the FA market than Robertson. I think I read something earlier in the offseason about 20+ teams showing interest in him, and all that reported interest is sure to push him into the 4-year contract territory.

That’s the territory the Yankees seemingly don’t want to enter with D-Rob, so I’m curious as to why they’re willing to go there with Miller. They really can’t go wrong with either Miller or D-Rob, and I would be a big fan of them adding both, but I really don’t understand the thinking here. …

A pair of hot stove stories from late Friday on the hitting coach and bullpen situations.

– First the hitting coach. There were reports earlier in the week about Raul Ibanez being one of the 3 finalists for the Tampa Bay managerial job. According to George King, if Ibanez doesn’t get that job, he has no interest in becoming the Yankees’ hitting coach. Sounds like it’s manager or bust for Raul and I can’t really blame him for that. We’ll have to wait until next week to see who this mystery interview candidate is.

– Now the bullpen. Via Sweeny Murti, the Yankee front office has discussed right-hander Jason Grilli as a hypothetical replacement for D-Rob should they fail to re-sign him. Grilli, 38, was really good as the Pirates closer in 2013, less so last year before he was traded to Anaheim. He bounced back post-trade and could be worth the minimal cost it will take to sign him.…

Everybody and their mother knows that the Yankees are putting max effort into finding a new shortstop this offseason. The 2 most talked about trade targets for the position have been Elvis Andrus and Alexei Ramirez, and the Yankees have been linked to both players in recent weeks. Per the latest information from George King, those links don’t appear to be leading anywhere:

“Yet, according to a person with knowledge of the White Sox’s plans, they don’t believe a deal with the Yankees for the 33-year-old Ramirez is any further along than it was at July’s trading deadline, when the Yankees acquired Stephen Drew from the Red Sox…

As for the 26-year-old Andrus, who starts the first season of an eight-year deal worth $118 million this coming April, the Rangers will listen but aren’t in a rush to deal him…

And because they need pitching and catching — perhaps outfield help if they can move Shin-Soo Choo– there is a problem matching with the Yankees.”

Has everybody had a chance to check around the Yankosphere and baseball blog circuit yet today? If you have, you were no doubt bombared with stories about the Yankees and Max Scherzer kinda, sorta, maybe, possibly being linked. Via Jon Heyman:

“So far this offseason, there hasn’t been much that’s new and interesting tied to the Yankees– baseball’s most storied franchise and usually among its most active winter players.

And there has been very little, if anything, that’s been linked to right-hander Max Scherzer — baseball’s top free-agent pitcher.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that there’s a chance that the Yankees and Scherzer may start becoming tied together, at least in terms of talk. It’s a match that might make sense.”

At face value, no. That wouldn’t be a surprise. Big money players are always linked to the Yankees during hot stove season, and they have a very apparent and widely-known need for starting pitching. …

Scott: Matt’s Yankees Shortstop Options post was depressing, and rumors are flying about possible trades for Elvis Andrus or Troy Tulowitzki, with one rumor suggesting that the Yankees could have Tulo for something like Luis Severino, Greg Bird, and Manny Banuelos. Would you take that deal, or something like it? I absolutely would. (1) Severino is great, with no red flags to date, but has only 25 IP at AA; it’s a long road yet to being a real MLB starter, much less the sort of #1-#2 starter you might regret giving up for a Tulo. (2) Bird has real holes in his game – rough at 1B (1 error every 10 games) and striking in 23% of PA in the low minors (bad but more a yellow than red flag); his 7 HR in 95 AB at AA, and great AFL showing, may signal exciting improvement, but to regret trading him for Tulo, he’d have to show continued progress.…

“There was serious speculation running through Kauffman Stadium before the Giants’ 3-2 victory over the Royals in Game 7 of the World Series that the Yankees were waiting for the end of the Series on Wednesday night to contact the Royals’ Raul Ibanez to gauge his interest in becoming their hitting coach.

While Ibanez was not on the active roster against the Giants, he was with the team serving as a wise head for the younger Royals to bounce ideas off and listen to. Royals manager Ned Yost has praised Ibanez’s leadership qualities throughout the postseason.”

Raul Ibanez, huh? OK, I can get on board with that. The Yankees have already lost out on what we have to assume was their top 2 candidates for the vacant hitting coach job. If the silence since then has been them biding their time and waiting to talk to somebody who was still involved in the postseason, that would be much better than them stalling because they didn’t really have a backup plan. …

This came out late-ish last night, and it may not be welcome news to some who are seeing it for the first time this morning. Former Mets GM Omar Minaya’s name started floating around yesterday as one the Yankees were considering for a possible front office position. Erik Boland reported that it was “strong consideration for a high-ranking position,” but Andy Martino later tempered that by tweeting that the role would be something in scouting or an advisory position and not a major one. With Mark Newman leaving as Senior VP of Baseball Ops and Minaya currently holding that spot in San Diego, there is a potential lateral opening.

Just the name “Omar Minaya” is enough to make some Mets fans’ skin crawl, and his tenure as GM there was not a good one. But he does have a very good track record of building strong farm systems wherever he’s been. With the Yankees putting improving their farm system as a primary goal going forward, Minaya could be useful as someone to help guide the efforts. …

“According to an industry source, the Yankees don’t appear to have a serious interest in Cuban defector Yasmani Tomas.”

This report by George King cites an anticipated price tag in the $100 million range as the primary reason for the Yanks passing on Tomas, which I don’t and will never understand. I don’t care how much money they spent last offseason or on whom. The Yankees still possess the greatest financial advantage over the rest of MLB and they should not be afraid to use it. If the goal really is to put a “championship-caliber” team on the field, how can you pass on a 24-year-old with grade 70 right-handed power and a plus outfield arm? Where is that guy in your farm system right now that allows you to say you can’t afford that player?

“What’s that? Potentially the next Jose Abreu and we can lock him up through the best years of his prime without sacrificing a draft pick? …